Various Artists - Ett Annat Göteborg [CS]

- Cassette, 2009, Utmarken [UTMARKEN#15] -

Download @ VBR 

The short presentation of Utmarken's showcase at the Geiger festival of 2009, stated that "Utmarken is a scene in Gothenburg, a collective of musicians, a gallery and a record- and cassette label. They release records in fast pace, and curate concerts with both local and international artists, several times each month." Quite a holistic approach, that is. And however dim, and essentially dark the more memorable parts of the catalogue might sound, consisting of some 40 cassettes spanning over 3 years, there's always a strong sense of manifold throughout Utmarken releases. 

Genre wise, "Ett Annat Göteborg" is nearly impossible to classify, and much of its strength lies precisely therein. The (at all times lo-fi) mixture of noise, noise rock, ambient noise, sludge, and at times even strangely well fitting, heavily distorted americana, etc., is probably best described as an aural décollage; a blend, ripped and torned, with more or less defined instances, frequently balancing on the verge of formalistic collapse. Hand on heart, however; as a compilation, it's far from a favourite. Listened to separately, a considerable amount of the tracks are quite boring, and the opening track, ironically enough entitled Utmarken, by Poppets, sets a rather naive tone with its pop punk-outlook. It gets better, though, as the record at large is so painstakingly diverse, to the point that each individual track loses intrinsic value. I don't know if this is meticulously planned, probably not, yet most of the tracks converge in an arousingly tension-filled exposé of Utmarken artists. Furthermore, as most of the tracks are quite short, generally 4-5 minutes in length, static moments rarely occur, giving way for rapidly changing dynamics.

Now, this in many ways true for Utmarken generally, as indicated before. Still, the mixed, and in some sense indecisive nature is much more obvious on a, if not coherent, at least somewhat  tangible compilation, rather than through the whole catalogue. So, even though it's far from a favourite among compilations, it might very well be one of my favourite samplers. Or perhaps "annual report" is more appropriate, since it was announced a year or so after the first Utmarken release.  

The 8th of August 2008, one day after Utmarken was officially announced on an internet forum, someone replied that s/he finally had a reason to visit Gothenburg. I couldn't agree more.

A1 Poppets – Utmarken

A2 Street Drinkers – Light Of The Day

A3 Haunted Trails – Heavy Metal

A4 Självhat – Förstörd

A5 Hills  – Place Full Of Stuff

A6 Beyond Woods – Untitled

A7 Den Stora Vilan – Elden

A8 Mag  – Time To Go

A9 White  – Kneel Before Me

B1 Ogdy – Impact

B2 Källarbarnen – Viljan

B3 The Black Bug – Razorface

B4 Tjuvjakt – Ensamheten

B5 Abol Houl – Cell Whispers

B6 Sirin – Nekat Rum

B7 Smycken – Mountain Home

B8 GBG Rovente – En Polismans Liv

B9 Wooden Ashes – Femman

B10 Fantasy Sex – Waves Of Skin